I fear my disease might infect the Q

[DoinkMobb]

I have Colin Chapman syndrome - the uncontrollable desire to add lightness.

I added lightness to my Impreza by gutting the trunk, scraping out all the sound deadening material in the cabin, getting rid of the rear seat belts, among other things.

Now I know that reducing the weight of a strictly street driven car isn't really going to produce any measureable results but...I feel that I have to do it anyway. If I can reduce the weight of a car by 100 lbs or 4% or whatever number, I feel as if I have improved the car in some way. Yeah, I know, it's kinda stupid.

I also know that I can replace the stock (ripped and torn) leather power seats with some nice microsuede aftermarket seats and save 40-50 lbs per seat. And I bet there's a LOT of sound deadening material in the cabin. And I can pick up a lightweight battery and...what the hell is this thing? Hmmm, it feels kinda heavy, let me rip that out of there.

Pray for my Q. Pray that I leave in intact.

[TBrack]

that poor car...

[DoinkMobb]

I have to tell myself "the car is fine, leave it alone". But I can't leave things alone, I always have to make something faster, better, more efficient.

[Raxephon]

... faster, better, more efficient.

You left out noisier.

[ddrumman]

You left out noisier.

DoinkMobb I think I have the opposite disease, I'll call it Niloc Nampahc. I've always wanted to add extra sound deadening to the car because I've never been very happy with the sound system.

Why should one sound deaden their car?Less road, engine and exhaust noise.Nicer, more relaxing, less stressful drive home.Less rattles and vibrations.More SPL (how loud your stereo plays aka Sound Pressure Level) from your sound system.

I'm sure there's more but that'll do it for now

[DoinkMobb]

DoinkMobb I think I have the opposite disease, I'll call it Niloc Nampahc. I've always wanted to add extra sound deadening to the car because I've never been very happy with the sound system.

Why should one sound deaden their car?Less road, engine and exhaust noise.Nicer, more relaxing, less stressful drive home.Less rattles and vibrations.More SPL (how loud your stereo plays aka Sound Pressure Level) from your sound system.

I'm sure there's more but that'll do it for now

Interesting. I want to hear road, engine and exhaust noise. I don't like the disconnected feeling when I ride in my grandfather's Lexus. I feel like I'm in a lifeless plastic capsule floating over the road. That's the only car in which I feel like I'm going to get carsick, it's very strange.

How can you truly enjoy driving a car without the aural sensations of driving? If anything, my Q is a little too isolated from the road. The car will provide more aural road feedback once I switch to a stiffer suspension and stickier tires with stiff sidewalls. And perhaps a throatier exhaust to boot. All of these things will make the car noisier, even before ripping out sound deadening material.

When I had a 2006 STI, I used to turn off the radio and roll down the windows just so I could hear car better.

ansalak - Noisier is an inherent byproduct of lighter.

[StarPD]

I have Colin Chapman syndrome - the uncontrollable desire to add lightness.

I added lightness to my Impreza by gutting the trunk, scraping out all the sound deadening material in the cabin, getting rid of the rear seat belts, among other things.

Now I know that reducing the weight of a strictly street driven car isn't really going to produce any measureable results but...I feel that I have to do it anyway. If I can reduce the weight of a car by 100 lbs or 4% or whatever number, I feel as if I have improved the car in some way. Yeah, I know, it's kinda stupid.

I also know that I can replace the stock (ripped and torn) leather power seats with some nice microsuede aftermarket seats and save 40-50 lbs per seat. And I bet there's a LOT of sound deadening material in the cabin. And I can pick up a lightweight battery and...what the hell is this thing? Hmmm, it feels kinda heavy, let me rip that out of there.

Pray for my Q. Pray that I leave in intact.

I think you may go too far, but that's subjective, isn't it?I too believe in cutting weight to improve all aspects of performance.Here are a few suggestions (warning; some may be expensive):*Lighter forged wheels, or even lighter yet, magnesium racing wheels, with lighter tires, usually Michelins are light.*lighter weight exhaust system perhaps without mufflers, using resonators only*Gel type battery, relocated to the trunk for better weight distribution.*Replace non-critical (ONLY) fasteners with aircraft grade aluminum ones (ounces add up to pounds)*Remove spare tire and jack; when's the last time you used them?*Keep unncessary junk out of trunk, console, and glove compartments, etc.*Run 1/2 full fuel tank only (1/2 tank of gas weighs around 90 lbs)

None of these things will reduce the luxury of your Q, and will actually improve acceleration, ride, handling, and fuel economy. You can get creative with other things depending on how extreme you choose to be.

If you decide to pursue this, why not do some timed runs at your local drag strip, and measure handling and fuel economy before mods to establish a baseline, then repeat with each modification, or when finished, to determine just how much good you did?

Good luck.

[ddrumman]

Interesting. I want to hear road, engine and exhaust noise. I don't like the disconnected feeling when I ride in my grandfather's Lexus. I feel like I'm in a lifeless plastic capsule floating over the road. That's the only car in which I feel like I'm going to get carsick, it's very strange.

How can you truly enjoy driving a car without the aural sensations of driving? If anything, my Q is a little too isolated from the road. The car will provide more aural road feedback once I switch to a stiffer suspension and stickier tires with stiff sidewalls. And perhaps a throatier exhaust to boot. All of these things will make the car noisier, even before ripping out sound deadening material.

When I had a 2006 STI, I used to turn off the radio and roll down the windows just so I could hear car better.

ansalak - Noisier is an inherent byproduct of lighter.

Compelling. If you want to hear road noise I think you've purchased the wrong car. You should check out an AC Cobra or a replica if you can't afford the real thing.

I personally have NEVER felt any disconnect from the road, blasting my music while I'm driving.

If I had a Ferrari 599 GTB I might want to roll the windows to get the "aural sensation" and not for long at that, but I'm driving a Q45. It's a sport luxury sedan.

[Jesda]

Solid bushings, bigger wheels, and then throw away the muffler.

Enjoy!

[DoinkMobb]

Compelling. If you want to hear road noise I think you've purchased the wrong car. You should check out an AC Cobra or a replica if you can't afford the real thing.

I personally have NEVER felt any disconnect from the road, blasting my music while I'm driving.

If I had a Ferrari 599 GTB I might want to roll the windows to get the "aural sensation" and not for long at that, but I'm driving a Q45. It's a sport luxury sedan.

I'd love to own an Elise one day...

And I don't know about "wrong" car - I'll do what I can, with what I have and see how it turns out. I like the Q because it's a sleepy V8 RWD sedan with some potential - and I want to see what I can do with it.

I'd like to tone down the luxury aspect a bit, and inject some more sport into the mix. I dunno, I've never really cared about having a great stereo in any of my cars and you've probably never had any desire to dismantle your interior and scrape out sound deadening material...to each his own, my friend.

[maxnix]

I always have to make something faster, better, more efficient.

Then start with a lighter, more powerful and thus faster and more efficient car.

The G50 is great for what it is, a luxury performance sedan. Don't be a ingenue bride and try to change it into something that it was not designed to be.

[DoinkMobb]

Then start with a lighter, more powerful and thus faster and more efficient car.

Then what's the point of modding a car? It's too easy, boring and expensive to buy the "best" car you can in terms of weight, speed, handling, etc.

I don't really care too much about the luxury aspect of the Q. I wanted a fairly quick Japanese RWD sedan, and it fit the bill, plain and simple. C'mon, I'm not talking about tearing apart a Bentley or a Maybach here.

[Jesda]

Then what's the point of modding a car? It's too easy, boring and expensive to buy the "best" car you can in terms of weight, speed, handling, etc.

I don't really care too much about the luxury aspect of the Q. I wanted a fairly quick Japanese RWD sedan, and it fit the bill, plain and simple. C'mon, I'm not talking about tearing apart a Bentley or a Maybach here.

I suggest a Toyota Cressida.

[maxnix]

Then what's the point of modding a car? It's too easy, boring and expensive to buy the "best" car you can in terms of weight, speed, handling, etc.

I don't really care too much about the luxury aspect of the Q. I wanted a fairly quick Japanese RWD sedan, and it fit the bill, plain and simple. C'mon, I'm not talking about tearing apart a Bentley or a Maybach here.

Well, a wise person looks at the base vehicle (much like a racer) before deciding if it will best meet the owner's goals (or the racing sanctioning body's regulations) to achieve one's goals.

If you want to race around with 3 friends all the time, then the G50 is not a bad choice. If you just want to go around quickly by yourself, a smaller more efficient car will serve you better " in terms of weight, speed, handling, etc." If "It's too easy, boring and expensive to buy the "best" car", why didn' you buy a used school bus? They're cheap and easily modifiable with ample opportunity for weight reduction.

Sometimes "boring" = "smarter".

If you weren't intrested in luxury, why did you buy a flagship luxury sedan? If you are liimited to Japanese RWD sedan (why the need for 4 doors?), a V35 might serve you better. Many arbitrarily weird criteria at play here.

[captainluigi]

there is a catch phrase we in the charter boat biz use when one captain or another starts off with wanting a new tower or re-power w/H.P. or whatever that goes like this: IT'S YO MONEY $. it's your thang, do what ya wanna do.

[Haitian_King]

I suggest a Toyota Cressida.

Those are nice. I very rarely see them anymore unless I'm in Brooklyn.

I have Colin Chapman syndrome - the uncontrollable desire to add lightness.

I added lightness to my Impreza by gutting the trunk, scraping out all the sound deadening material in the cabin, getting rid of the rear seat belts, among other things.

Now I know that reducing the weight of a strictly street driven car isn't really going to produce any measureable results but...I feel that I have to do it anyway. If I can reduce the weight of a car by 100 lbs or 4% or whatever number, I feel as if I have improved the car in some way. Yeah, I know, it's kinda stupid.

I also know that I can replace the stock (ripped and torn) leather power seats with some nice microsuede aftermarket seats and save 40-50 lbs per seat. And I bet there's a LOT of sound deadening material in the cabin. And I can pick up a lightweight battery and...what the hell is this thing? Hmmm, it feels kinda heavy, let me rip that out of there.

Pray for my Q. Pray that I leave in intact.

Whille I haven't seen it, my friend told me about a '93 up in Northern PA that was going for $6500. It was formerly an undercover narcotics detective's vehicle. He said from the outside it looked completely stock. Dark tints and thicker tires were all that you could see as mods. The interior was quite the opposite. The entire car was base metal on the inside. The carpet, headliner, dash, everything was gutted. The rear seats were removed and replaced with plastic bench seats. The door panels were gone. My friend said that if you ever needed to, all that was needed to clean the interior was a hose. Hose it out and let it dry. He said they redid the suspension and did some engine mods.

I told him to buy it, but he couldn't afford it at the time. I'd have loved to see it.

[DoinkMobb]

Well, a wise person looks at the base vehicle (much like a racer) before deciding if it will best meet the owner's goals (or the racing sanctioning body's regulations) to achieve one's goals.

If you want to race around with 3 friends all the time, then the G50 is not a bad choice. If you just want to go around quickly by yourself, a smaller more efficient car will serve you better " in terms of weight, speed, handling, etc." If "It's too easy, boring and expensive to buy the "best" car", why didn' you buy a used school bus? They're cheap and easily modifiable with ample opportunity for weight reduction.

Sometimes "boring" = "smarter".

If you weren't intrested in luxury, why did you buy a flagship luxury sedan? If you are liimited to Japanese RWD sedan (why the need for 4 doors?), a V35 might serve you better. Many arbitrarily weird criteria at play here.

Honestly, for seriously, I was wondering the other day how much an old school bus would go for. I mean a short bus, not a full sized one. I'd drive one of those. And I have thought about a Toyota Cressida at one point in time.

I wasn't interested in luxury, I was interested in getting a fairly quick sedan on the cheap because my car died on a Friday and I needed to get to work the following Monday. I wanted four doors because it's easier to live with than a coupe - I fit a 50 gallon water heater in the backseat of my Q!

Arbitrarily weird. That sounds about right.

[Haitian_King]

While you needed a point car, you lucked out and got a great luxury sedan.

While you can do what you want, it's your car, you drive it everyday. F what the next man says. But it'd be a shame to watch such a great car get stripped to some sort of death rocket. (A wicked fast death rocket).

[gammer_ghn]

Oh joy im the next person haha well bro do what i did if you want to loose weight and hear your car more. Buy the Nico ECU with aftermarket intake than remove the resonators and the muffler and get larger piping with an x pipe than put MPE-11385 Muffler on there. That’s some weight and hp there i guess. Remove the tire and the jack and the stuff you don’t need but to tell you the truth you cant gain too much power and road feel on these cars unless you spend some nice$$$. Enjoy your car but we don’t want you to come here and cry about how you broke your car so treat her nice!

[drftard]

haha 1 damn death rocket indeed...

cressida's in CALi are a craze now! as a drifting platform! surprise SUPRISE!

friend has custom build suspensioin welded diff & does great autocrossing + sliding!

post some pics 'DoinkMobb' of ur prjkt! i'd like to see where this goes!